Favorite Shows I watched in 2017 (they probably came out 4 years ago…)

Hi guys, well we’ve finally reached the semi obligatory BEST OF 2017 post! You know, there’s a reason everyone does one of these posts every year – they’re really fun to read. I enjoyed all of yours, that’s for sure. Thing is, I already covered this exact subject in the podcast (which you can listen to here **cough, cough**)., and I’ve already covered all these shows in their own posts at that. I love redundancy as much as the next guy, probably considerably more so actually, but even I realize there’s only so many times you can say the same thing. After all, if I haven’t convinced you yet that these shows are the best, odds are I’m not suddenly going to do so now. So instead, I’m going to let much more talented people do so!

(If you happen to be curious about my own thought on any of these series, the titles are links) If you have a review I missed (guys put a search bar in your blogs), let me know! I’ll happily add it or you have my full blessing to post it in the comments.

One of the first shows I saw this year and one of the first I reviewed (be gentle, I’ve gotten better…) Despite some obvious problems, this show never failed to make me smile and even laugh. Then, somehow, it made me care. Some of the subtler and gentler aspects of this show masterfully illustrated the most basic conflicts of growing up and relationships while avoiding judgement. It was a great start to 2017, just check out what these guys thought about it:

It’s not like I’ve ever tried to hide my particular affinity for Sports! anime. You guys knew what you were in for! Ace of Diamond may not be the best I’ve ever seen but it certainly ranks up there and a definite must for any fan of the genre. See what I mean:

The series is so wonderful, Grimmgirl had to come back from hiatus to talk about it:

Much like Kobayashi, there are some issues here that will rub some viewers the wrong way but No Game No Life’s gleeful embrace of gaming and fan culture coupled with it’s unfaltering style and ecstatic if childish humour, has managed to capture the imagination of a lot of viewers, myself included. I know a lot of you have seen the movie, I haven’t, I’m jealous.

I was completely mesmerized by this classic hardboiled crime drama (from what is quickly becoming one of my favorite studios) but every review I ran across at the time was negative. Since then, it seems public opinion has softened somewhat. I still think this is just a few ressources short of an absolute masterpiece. And that intro….

Man I loved Drifters. I am essentially just holding my breath until the next season. It better get a a release date soon because I’m getting a little dizzy here. It certainly is a show that makes an impact, which is why I’m baffled so few of you have written about it:

Karandi has a great grasp of the love it or hate it nature of the show:

I had so much fun with both seasons of this. I would never hesitate to recommend this show to anyone who wants something to unwind at the end of a long day. I laughed so hard and ended up truly enjoying just about every single character in the series.

Man, this show…I… I failed to properly capture this show in my own review (but can you blame me, it’s a duzy, Urban Dictionary definition of duzy = pimpdiculous). Go see how these fine folks managed to do what I couldn’t:

Little Anime Blog’s review made me almost drop everything and rewatch the show:

I saw this right after Humanity has Declined and thought I had maybe become a magical anime fairy and every show I would watch would suddenly turn out phenomenal. I have been proven sadly wrong since. A quiet, relaxing and comfortable exploration of the human spirit in the age of technology, Time of Eve is nothing short of lovely.

My Hero Academia

can’t wait for season 3

Well duh.. Of course I love a fantastically well made shonen. Everyone does. I mean that literally! Every blog with any anime related content at all has something on this show. There are just way too many to list, so how about you tell me your favorite MHA post in the comments!!!

And lastly, I,m going to throw you a curveball with a super unexpected entry: Natsume…It’s Natsume, guys, it’s Natsume!!!

For some reason I take personal pride in the fact that so many of the bloggers I admire also love this show. Artemis has the series in her Top 5 feel Good shows, Top 20 Anime Series and 5 best shows with over 60 episodes!

I tried really hard to find a negative review to give you a counterpoint. I couldn’t find one. This should tell you something!

I know for a fact I missed some reviews for these shows. I remember specific posts on Kobayashi and KonoSuba that I couldn’t find again and I’m almost certain there was more on pretty much every other one.

I hope these wonderful posts will motivate you to give these shows a try if you haven’t. And even if you don’t like these shows (why????) you still get to have all these wonderful posts to read! – My gift to you. You’re welcome!

67 Responses

omg you watched daiya thi s year”?! SCREAMS INTO THE VOID. I’m so glad T_T and thanks for linking my stuff. out of the list i’ve only watched daiya (agree on how we need more daiya content, you should check out shiroyuni’s blog if you want more stuff, she’s the limitless imagination. she’s not blogging anymore but her content is GREAT), 91 days which I was glad i picked up like OMGGGGG, and mha though I’m still not caught up >_>

Humanity Has Declined
Natsume (I’m sure you’re as surprised to see this here, as I am to see it on your list in the first place)

Like those a lot:

Maid Dragon
Konosuba
Time Of Eve

Entertaining:</ib

91 Days (Excellent execution, but not my genre; I had it in the like-it-a-lot tier at first, but that's me not being honest with myself – I want to like this more than I do. Still, the visuals and cinematography are top notch, and the narrative control is impeccable.)

My Hero Academia (very well done shounen, but I dislike it's take on heroism)

Meh:

No Game No Life (I debated with myself, whether or not to put it into the “Entertaining” tier, but all in all, it’s probably not for me. If it weren’t for the mean-spiritedness when treating our princess, maybe… Some of it’s brilliant even, but most of it’s just… there. I don’t like the colour design much; I can appreciate what it’s doing, but the contrast clashes for me.)

Drifters (I can see myself giving this one another chance, if I’m really bored, but considering the competition…)

Dislike those:

None

I’d erase those from existance if I could:

None

Haven’t seen those:

Ace of Diamond (not into sports, and the more episodes there are, the slimmer the chances that I’ll start)

***

That’s a rather pretty curve. Similar taste based on different fluff-substratum, I’d say (i.e. we like different genres, but often the same shows if they transcend their genres – or something).

There are good anime I dislike (e.g. Silver Spoon), and there are bad anime I like (I won’t admit they’re bad, so no examples), so I’m not sure the “just good anime” explanation works.

I don’t doubt that MHA will throw us a cynical curve ball; but that doesn’t really matter if the ball’s the wrong texture to begin with – if you get what I mean. I don’t know what they can do to change my mind (though surprises are always possible.)

Aww, you really do flatter us! Both NGNL and Humanity Has Declined have a bit of a special place in our memories, and we are still rather proud of those reviews 😅 So it’s great to know you got an interesting read out of them.

oh wow, thank you for the nod. i’m personally not satisfied with my reviews, but i’m glad you like them my review of humanity has declined is not my best, since i just didn’t get it when i first watched it.
and there is nothing bad to say about natsume. that is yuki midorikawa’s magnum opus. i am confident of that. it’s a timeless series that’ll just get better with age.

Ohhh rewrite of Humanity review??? A good friend of mine didn’t like the show and dropped it after an episode. I would love to have something to point at and say – see You have to give it a chance – it grows on you! (like mold…)

i have a lot of my old reviews i want to rewrite. hyouka is a big one, since i fail to include the agatha christie love letter sewn all over the stories.
and a good way to sell humanity has declined is to point out that it’s from the “absurdist” genre. Alice in Wonderland being the most famous from that genre. complex, confusing, heavily thematic yet amusingly relatable when you piece the puzzle together. 🙂

Aside from BnHA and Time of Eve (which isn’t streaming in its entirety to anywhere legal without involving a subscription), I think pretty much all of these are already on my PTW or I’ve watched one episode of them. I’d already read Frog-kun’s article after reading KonoSuba LNs 1 – 3 though, so there was something I could skip for once!

I hadn’t heard of a few of these blogs before though, so at least I got a whole bunch of new reading material in exchange.

Oh my god… The amount of effort placed into summarizing and collating reviews from different bloggers to give future viewers a footing to judge the show for themselves is over 9000!!!!!
Bookmarking this to read the other reviews! Thanks for the awesome treasure giveaway!

Thank you a lot for mentioning my post on Time of Eve, I’m glad you liked it and saw fit to include it in this great list 💗
I’ve also written on Ace of Diamond, and agree that more people should watch and write about it! 👌

Hmm if you consider this intense… I loved time of eve and when I saw you retweet your post on the subject a week ago I was so thrilled to see I wasn’t the only one. The comments I got were great but it’s always fun to read another bloggers perspective.

Haha, this heading on your post ( they probably came out four years ago), will be the header for my post in four years from now 😊😊 I haven’t seen any of these yet, really I feel like such an anime noob at times…Ughhhh 🙈🙈🙈

[…] something specific. When I was trying to round up all the reviews for particular shows for my “Favorite Shows of 2017” post, these were the articles that came up first and where the easiest to find. Although, […]

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